16 September 2024
Mexico’s Constitutional Democracy Under Threat
The final act of Mexican President López Obrador will be in collaboration with the president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum and the newly elected Congress. Among other things, in a move that goes beyond anything found in other prominent backsliding states such as Hungary or Poland, it introduces the popular election of all sitting judges across the Federal Judiciary, including Supreme Court Justices, every 9 and 12 years respectively. In an open letter, legal scholars, judges, policymakers and practitioners from various regions of the world have expressed deep concern over the potential consequences that the popular election of judges may have on judicial independence, the rule of law, and the safeguarding of rights and freedoms in Mexico. Continue reading >>
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24 July 2024
A Democratic Mandate to Overhaul Mexico’s Judiciary?
It is time to take the present threat as what it is: the most serious threat to Mexico’s constitutional democracy at least since the slow start of the democratic transition in the late 1970’s. The constitutional amendment to the judiciary will translate into an incommensurable retrocession in terms of professionalization and judicial independence building. The day after the amendment is passed, Mexico will officially be less democratic and more authoritarian in that the scrutiny of the exercise of public power would have been put at great risk. Continue reading >>
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12 May 2023
Can the Mexican Supreme Court Save Constitutional Democracy?
The last week of the legislative term in Mexico was just another showcase of the clear government's disdain for democratic institutions and the rule of law. At the end of April, MORENA, the party in government, used its legislative majorities to hastily pass a series of laws in violation of different procedural rules, including quorum rules. The episode described above isn’t uncommon in Mexico’s legislative politics. The quality of the political-constitutional discourse is in great need of improvement to prevent such episodes from happening. It seems that the Supreme Court is the only institution that could contribute (and has been trying to contribute) to repair it. However, in the current political environment, Supreme Court interventions in political processes are becoming increasingly dangerous to the extent that its survival is at stake. Continue reading >>
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05 March 2023
Mexican Democracy (and the Supreme Court) at a Crossroads
Mexican democracy has come a long way since the creation of the electoral watchdog three decades ago. The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) had a crucial role in securing the transition to democracy after the Partido de la Revolución Institucional (PRI) 70-year hegemonic rule. As such, it has since become a pillar of the country’s democracy. Yet, on February 22nd, the Mexican Federal Congress passed a set of amendments to electoral law overhauling the electoral agency. Together with a set of amendments passed last December, these changes to electoral law undermine the agency’s independence by, among other things, slashing the size of the agency's civil service by 85%. This puts into serious question the capacity of the agency to guarantee the organization of free and fair elections in the general election next year. Continue reading >>15 November 2019